100 year time lapse

In 1909 Eduard Spelterini went up in a gas balloon and took incredible photographs (with glass plates!) of the Mer de Glace glacier in the Swiss Alps. He was the first to traverse the Alps by air, and the first to photograph the mountains from the air–an amazing feat when you consider how painstakingly tricky photography was then (before the days of easy-to-use 35mm film).

The 100 Year Time Lapse project is recreating many of the beautiful shots that Spelterini took, especially focusing on the Mer de Glace glacier to compare the extent of the glacier then and now. The glacier has changed dramatically in the 100+ years since Spelterini took his beautiful photographs, and scientists estimate that the glacier has lost over 700 million cubic feet of water since that time.

Dr. Kieran Baxter creates 3D maps of the landscape from old and new photographs, and uses these to visualize changes in the landscape. For more about his work see the web site ClimateVis.com